Yama no Susume: Second Season

"(Mountain-climbing) may have been hard, but it was a lot of fun. I want to experience more of these feelings. Lots more."

I was eager to watch the second season after seeing the first season which consist of three-minute episodes. It was great that in this second season the episodes are longer, which leaves for more story and definitely development in the characters. If you'd watched it already, you should know that Aoi at first didn't like mountain climbing. But with the help of Hinata, and along with two more girls, Kaede and Kokona, she got to learn more about it and she had a lot of fun with them.

In the second season, it continues in with almost the same idea, but also some episodes do offer some surprises. There are some more mountain-climbing adventures in the story which not only entertain you with cute girls but you can also learn something, whether it's the mountain or Japanese culture. Education isn't the main focus in the story but it's great that at least there is something to know, from the characters' knowledge to us viewers. At times when they aren't climbing, there is a small story, whether it involves the four girls or individual. It's good as well for such smaller stories that we can get to know more about the girls well and perhaps seeing some development.

The story has a lot of cute and funny moments from the characters' interaction. My emphasis goes on cuteness because I swear, the pandering is real on this anime. Every episode, you will never miss your dose of cuteness. Although this does not have any effect to the story, they are there to brighten your watching experience, and maybe your day when you're feeling down. It also has a few dramatic moments which, luckily, doesn't go overboard and nothing tragic happened for a light-hearted anime.

You may have seen tons of slice of life anime, and whether they have a story or not does not really matter now. But whether it tries to make the audience feel satisfied or enjoy is a much important factor, and Yama no Susume does not fail in this. Indeed, the story may not be too perfect, but it is definitely special in many people's hearts, including mine. Also, you probably seen tons of them being school-themed. However, this anime focuses on nature instead, one of the less-used themes, and it was great that it did their utmost best to glorify this theme. All references said in the anime are real, including the attractions and legends. With some knowledge learnt, you will have a different experience that you never felt before in your anime watching.

It is nice to see a small cast, especially for a slice of life anime. This also leaves more story and development in most of each character. You already have met four girls, Aoi, Hinata, Kaede and Kokona. They have a special bond together like as if their friendships will last forever. Also, if you looked at the poster, you would see a new character, which is Honoka. She is introduced in the last few episodes and despite not having enough time to know more about her, she is a good addition to the group. Calm as always, smiles once a while too.

Aoi and Hinata has one of the best friendships I've seen. It's well-developed and despite their differences and small fights in-between, they still stick close together since young. Hinata is always out there to reach Aoi and help her along the way whenever she is stuck in a difficult situation. That also means Hinata has learnt about Aoi one step at a time and so she knows Aoi and herself more.

The girls have a nice dynamic character with different set of emotions once in a while. They are aware of their thoughts and know what to do to make themselves better. Overall, they all have developed throughout the whole story, and I'm impressed to see that. But not only just them, but also a few characters that are introduced later in the story which changed their mindset over thanks to the girls.

For a light-hearted anime, expect everything cute. Back to the point, the art for this anime is almost similar to any kind of slice of life anime, but it stands out the most for its spectacular sceneries depicting mountains, skies and buildings. The details look refined and almost real. I love the nature drawn such as the sun-rise and the flowing river. The atmosphere is lively with background people around interacting one another. The character designs are absolutely cute and nicely-detailed and a bit real. The facial expressions are well-done, that show how does the character feel.

There are two opening and three ending songs in total. One of the ending song is reused from the first season, but it's a nice touch to relive the memories of the first season as well. Overall, all of them are sweet and lovely to hear. They may not stand out with the rest in the two seasons, but honestly, I love all of them so much. I must give special mention of the animation that went along with these songs, because they have this unique art style that reminded me of the first opening in Bakemonogatari. The background music isn't really memorable but I think it's done well. The voice acting is great too.

I never had this time when I dislike an episode, and I was always power-hungry for more. This anime never failed to disappoint me, so this had to be one of the best anime I have watched since the start. I'm glad to find this anime from the first season, and I really hope to see more of cute girls climbing mountains in the future. It's regrettable to see that this anime does not pick up enough hype. So I consider a miracle if I met a random stranger and he said he had watched this anime. I really hoped a lot more people can watch this.

Hence, please watch the two seasons. They will never disappoint you, trust me.

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This review is just going to be how Yama no Susume Second Season is to me.

I started out watching Yama no Susume out of curiosity (well that actually applies to most of us huh) only knowing that it's about mountain climbing. In little time Yama no Susume captured my eyes and heart to the show showing the beauty of mountain climbing but not without the challenges and suffering (and moe).
As where I'm from has no mountains so before I watched the show I had no real idea and interest in mountains not to say climbing it but this show just does it so well in portraying to the audiences about the beauty that lies ahead upon climbing mountains. It sure did for me, after watching the Mt. Fuji arc I was inspired I was hyped to climb Mt. Fuji someday and sure as hell did I climb it on July 7th to 8th 2015 when I was in Japan (for goraiko like what the girls did in the anime).
It was like what the anime showed me it is tiring, you question yourself why are you here but in the end when you get to the top your rewards are wonders, you meet people upon climbing everyone's nice. If it wasn't for this show I wouldn't have climbed Mt. Fuji, I wouldn't have saw the beauty at the summit and during the climb, I wouldn't have experienced the feeling of being above and among the clouds. I wouldn't have experienced this once in a life time event. I am just really in love with this show they don't just show you the beauty they show you what it takes to get there as well that's why I was prepared for the suffering it had to take to get to the summit.

All and all, this show is wonderful in my opinion it's moe, realistic and inspirational an 8/10 for me.

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Honestly, I happened to come by this anime purely by chance. An anime about girls climbing mountains? As soon as I read the summary, I gave it a try. What the summary anticipated was a journey, and a long one at that.

The four main characters go through many hardships and turns, and it made me want to cheer them on. Aspects of their experiences are often relatable in some way, too, like being unsure if you're able to do something, or simply an argument with your closest friend.

With art comparable to the easygoing nature scenes of Non Non Biyori's, Yama no Susume manages to fascinate me greatly. The detail and effort put into every scene is incredible and inspiring, and the accuracy with each feature of mountain climbing as a whole is amazing. It definitely feels like the studio behind it actually went and climbed a mountain themselves, giving the animation a very genuine 'mountain aura'.

Overall, I enjoyed both seasons of Yama no Susume, although it's unfortunate that the episodes in both seasons weren't full length, but the second season made a big difference to the three-minute (?) shorts of the first season. It's an enjoyable ride, for sure.

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This second season of Yama no Susume continues the story of Aoi and Hinata from the first one as they, along with their two friends, keep developing their interest on mountain climbing while reaffirming their friendship. This is overall a cute and positive show with endearing personalities and an inviting mood. And yet, it has to be one of the most perplexing experiences I've had watching anime, and for many reasons.

I admit it, I didn't like the first season. With a premise that should have hit all the right notes in my personal tastes, I found the delivery dull and lazy, filled with the most blatantly regurgitated trope iterations and overall giving me the impression that I wasn't watching something genuine and sincere.

This season is far longer, the episodes have more time to develop its ideas and not feel too schematic and/or contrived, so in theory it should be able to fix these issues. And it, indeed, went way better this time. Yet if I had to describe this season in a single word, that would be "erratic". Extremely, bewilderingly erratic.

First, let me say that the art and animation in this show deserve all the praise that I can't fully give in other departments. It is a show about outdoors and scenery and it delivers with great shots and embellished natural landscapes. It has a lot of active and energetic character interaction and it's delightfully executed in movement and framing to transmit that feeling of liveliness throughout. The visual delivery is absolutely on point and that is something I can't deny no matter how I feel about the series.

That said, I am very conflicted about the writing and characters, and perhaps the most blatant example of this inner conflict came in the very first episode. The vibes I was getting from it couldn't be worse; the same essential problems the first season had in execution, with a kind of moe and cutesy imagery that felt so lazy, tropey and lowest common denominator that I couldn't get invested in its mood at all. And yet, there was a scene right there, when the girls finally set up the tent and enjoy their time together. That scene. That conversation in the tent. It somehow felt properly restrained, natural, authentic. It was exactly what I want and expect a slice of life to be.

To a point, I wish the entire anime was a consistent stream of serviceable mediocrity, somehow like that first season was, because this is more difficult to handle. "Irregular" would be an understatement for this show. It is actually brilliant, genuinely great and inspired, in bits. Some of its little sequences can rightfully be placed among my favorite slice of life moments of all time, and the series gets some themes and tones surprisingly well. For instance, one of the things I was most surprised about is that, for a series this positive and idealistic... it handles the negatives and adversities incredibly well. It knows how to deal with tension and inner conflict. The negative effects of Aoi's acrophobia are perhaps my favorite plot point of the series and whenever it plays a role it doesn't feel sweetened or overdramatized, but heavy and uncomfortable, and creates some of the best and most heartfelt scenes in the show. I could mention some other moments that deal with an amount of tension and conflict, like the semi-frequent quarrels between Aoi and Hinata, or that scene with Aoi trying to convince her mother to let her climb Mt. Fuji... and they all, somehow, excel at executing their particularly heavier moods.

But for every great there's a downside in this show and in this case it's the amount of monologuing and characters wording their feelings and concerns. Aoi is particularly guilty of that and it can get truly grating. It is cheap, it is redundant and it disrupts the natural flow of events. I can't fully express how much I dislike the choice to use them as tools for character exposition, and how often they managed to break my immersion in otherwise very competent scenes and conflicts.

In fact, in general, I don't feel much for the characters of this series. For the two main ones, I like them more as concepts than as characters themselves. While sometimes, clearly more often than the rest of the cast, they move me and hit home in a particularly brilliant way, I can't bring myself to getting this kind of strong attachment to them that other series manage to create. And it's not due to lack of merits: the premise of their friendship is really beautiful and inspiring, and their relationship doesn't have anything essentially wrong, actually managing to capture the little instances of conflict that also conform a friendship. I think it's worth noting, and to a point daring for the show and the overall mood it intends to create, that it tries to put emphasis on their bickering instead of reducing their relationship to the beautiful and wholesome moments. But with that said, I can't get over character quirks of Aoi that I find irritating, like the above mentioned, and while Hinata is more solid, she isn't in any way memorable to me as a standalone. The rest of the cast is rather forgettable. Kaede is... just there. I don't hate her, I wouldn't say I like her, to a point I appreciate her viewpoint and I see nothing wrong with her presence but nothing else. Kokona is a weird and ambivalent case. She is sweet to the point of type 1 diabetes, which I somehow can handle due to my high sugar tolerance but even then I can't help but point her as a character that is pushed far beyond the limits. And yet, there is some naïve childhood charm in her that prevents this excess from backfiring or resulting in annoyance.

I truly don't know what to say or how to sum up my views of this show. It is genuinely brilliant but at the same time it's grating and mediocre. It has forgettable characters but intense and breathtaking character moments. It feels fake and pandering in its amount of regurgitated moe gimmicks that are uninspired and overdone in execution, yet it somehow is able to transmit down-to-earth feelings that few slice of life capture with such efficiency. The highs of this show seem to come from nowhere, but they exist, and they make the experience absolutely worthy. That is what I can conclude, I guess. It was worthy. Irregular, erratic and a huge mess of an experience, but one of a kind. And somehow, I find myself looking forward to the third season.

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Now, I shall begin my review that probably has nothing metaphorical to do with cars. No car brands and car models whatsoever.

Yama no Susume (Encouragement of Climb) began its season 1 as a 3-minute-per-episode moeblob, the “anime shorts” as some calls it. After watching the whole season 1 in an hour less, I thought that that was the end. And no farther stretching of stories will be made, unless the producers and staff will be making fillers. Perhaps another slice-of-life on high school grounds rather than mountains?

Instead, the writer(s) of season 2 went around (or researched) their Land of the Rising Sun to find mountains to showcase: the episodes progress to more trekking and mountain-climbing as high as Mt. Fuji even. That itself is proper, impressive, and cultural-friendly. Animators were able to impressively showcase some of Japan’s highpoints where kawaii-moes ought to climb without parenteral guidance. I mean, just imagine: three high-schoolers and one middle-schooler are climbing Mt. Fuji on their own. How parent-wracking is that? But this is CGDCT goodness.

On the surface, that’s as plain as you get: kawaii-moes climbing mountains. Anime fans and otakus moved on with their lives to pursue bishies, panty-shot fanservices and the particular mainstream anime; they all did but I didn’t. Instead, I imagined myself on top a mountain, and went ‘hmmm…this is one remarkable, inspiring story’.


STORY = 10

To put it simply in CGDCT terms, Aoi and Hinata, who were the MCs of the short season 1, wanted to reach on top of mountains they were planning to climb all for the sake of watching the sunrise. Now, you may have heard of phrases like “move the mountain or die trying”, “the going gets tough, the tough gets going”, “it gets harder by each step”, among other variations of mountain-related cliché quotes of whatnot, and even the great Stratovarius does have their solemn metal ballad “Move the Mountain”. All in all, the message means the same: ‘encouragement’. Yes, the title itself says it.

On the surface, it’s a CGDCT moerrific anime and all things cute, but the story metaphorically tells you of encouragement in life. Life itself is putting mountains on proverbs to symbolize the arduous trek. There are failures, disappointments, and hurdles big and small. They pretty much are metaphors from the mountain’s trails, flat grounds, steep angles, rocks, grasses, and all of us have climbed throughout our lives of our own symbolic mountain until we breathe our last.

Then, as you reach the peak of the mountain, which metaphorically-means your closing path to success, you only grasp a moment of it, all for the take of watching the sunrise. You then realized that every path you took was all hard work for a glimpse of that morning sun. Sounds familiarly comprehensible? Good. This anime showed just that, like telling you all those encouragement things the moe-way.
It’s tricky but if you’re able to get past the moe-surface barrier, you’d realize what I’m talking about. Aoi and Hinata’s experiences are sugarcoated with cutesy, but you do relate to this when you find yourself in a situation where you “give up” and are sulking, or when a “friend helped you”, or when you want to overcome your fears. And yes, I’m not spoiling you on anything. It’s all just there, and again in a moe-way no doubt.


ART = 10

It’s all fluid-ish and pleasing to the eyes. What’s more, it’s not the character design that the art has nailed, but the accuracy of the Japan’s showcase of mountainous sceneries themselves. Like I said, the animators made a culture-friendly take of showcasing some of Japan’s magnificent mountains. The details were made for inviting mountain-climbing.

There’s just one thing though: it seems that most audiences generally are anime-fans and otakus who pursue bishies and panties, not tourism. And that’s a bad thing because all efforts are pretty much undermined here, next to being wasted. Yes, there are CGDCT-lovers, but that’s just a percent, a fraction of the most anime fans. Still, art-wise, the level of details is just staggering.


CHARACTER = 9

Needless to pry on this as this is CGDCT, and that’s entirely good to put characters that are easy on the heart and mind. All moe, all cutesy, all Hinata, Aoi, Kokona and Kaede.


SOUND = 10

Aoi, Hinata, Kokona and Kaede are voiced by Yuka Iguchi, Kana Asumi, Yui Ogura and Yoko Hikasa respectively. The chemistry is already there, maybe not as bonding as K-On! but these seiyuus know CGDCT and slice-of-life as if they lived it themselves. I’m impressed just by the simple and natural flow of voices and that’s very good.


ENJOYMENT = 8

There are a few niggles, particularly that climbing mountains one after the other is going to make things predictable. Though, this is CGDCT at best, and the criteria fits as much as it is seen. One thing that comes to mind was maybe because the “CGDCT formula” needs to be in the special places of houses and classrooms for it to truly work. Going around Japan with this formula may not be its strongpoint, but like I said, these are just some few niggles, and enjoying Yama no Susume was still impressive as the number 8 itself.

OVERALL = 8

You may be surprised why I rated it as eight (8), but here’s the thing: it’s absolutely moe, absolutely CGDCT, absolutely all elements come into play, and that’s why it’s an 8. Somehow, there's still something amiss...I could not put it into words but if we take a look at Non Non Biyori, the characterization seems top-notch compared to Yama no Susume. However, as these are just few niggles presented, the remark went to a fine 8. Don’t get me wrong, I like the sound of the number itself, that’s CGDCT-territory for me in fluffy clouds and beautiful mountains.

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Hello everyone, since you're reading this, you wanna hear my opinion and review of this, so let's just get right into it!

The Story,

It's so simple, there really isn't a story, and that's one great thing about it, THERE ISN'T A STORY, just one main goal, and some girls having a lot of fun mountain climbing, it is simple, it is good, that is all.

The Art,

I actually watched Yama no Susume on a dvd I bought from the Philippines when I visited there, (not a good idea) and it was basically crap quality for me, but from what I could tell from the 360p quality the dvd had, it had good, simple art, and very good, beautiful backgrounds.

Sound,

Nothing really special, as for the Opening and Endings for this anime, and the voice actors for each character fitted them pretty well, ( to be honest a lot of (not all) Japanese voice actors sound pretty much the same to me, so they just fit well with any normal character)

Characters:

You first start with the main character and her friend, over time in the anime, their roster of mountain climbing friends grows, the characters are all kind and sweet in their own way, but nothing too much stands out about them, they are just a group of girls mountain climbing, they share each other's burdens and cheer each other up as good friends would do.

MY OFFICIAL OPINION:

The Good for Me:
This anime literally wanted to grab my best friend and go climb Mt. Fuji, and I think that's a good thing, it has it's heart warming moments, and I generally do not think it was a waste of time for me.

The BAD:
If you've started watching the anime, and you're confused about something, this might clarify it.
So you're saying, "Well yeah what the hell man, this isn't Hetalia man, why are the episodes so short!?" (Btw the first episodes of Hetalia I watched were short so I was very confused, I thought it was like a normal anime) But do not be alarmed my dear friend, the first few episodes are indeed short, but the SECOND SEASON is where we truly start the anime, everyone gets their plot development and stuff. That's probably the only thing I didn't like about this anime lol. But that also doesn't mean to skip the 3 minute episodes, just watch them ok?

So...Why should YOU watch it?
If you like K-on and other anime where girls just hang out and have fun and do whatever they do, then this anime is no different, I enjoyed it for the most part, and you might too, just don't be too disappointed if you can't go mountain climbing afterwards (That happened to me) If you don't like anime that just has random events and stuff, then maybe this isn't for you, the anime really just has a goal, and that's pretty much it, and after the goal is completed, the anime ends.

So, anyway, that's my review.

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This review is from someone who tackled Mt. Fuji all the way to the summit :)

I watched the first season (each episode is 3 minutes long, the second season episodes are 12 minutes a piece) and was impressed by the art, but that was about all. The characters are all typical fare and easily forgettable. The sound is completely average. The story has a strange pace. But the artwork is great.

This anime is a very realistic look at the climb, to the point that you can tell much of it was taken straight from photos. That was exciting for me, because it looks so similar that it was like being there again. The animation even gets the authentic cane brands and the bells. It even takes a look at the restroom options on the mountain (you have to pay 200 yen per use, and, realistically, it shows the girls depositing the money after they've used the restroom).

This anime is like a guide to climbing Mt. Fuji. It even tackles issues like altitude sickness and annoying tourists (represented, of course, by loud Americans who do everything wrong, including running down the mountain and talking all night at the hut). All the joy is represented here well, too: the sunrise, the wind, the stars, and the sun beating down on you. I found it to be a great story and very realistic, a good representation of the actual climb. However, when I first started watching, I assumed it would be all about the girls tackling Mt. Fuji. Instead, they climb several mountains. It's also quite a bit about preparation, which is great! But it was a bit like tuning into an action anime that spends 20 of the 25 minutes watching the characters talk, then getting a few scant minutes of a fight scene. I felt that not nearly enough time was spent on the struggle of the actual climb. The girls zip between stations way too quickly. These climbs take HOURS, but they seem to fly through it. Granted, the episodes are short, but the Mt. Fuji climb should have been drawn out more.

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The second season of Yama no Susume has all the cuteness and the good scenery of the short first season, but in its 13-minutes-long episodes it adds a richer and more complex storytelling and a bigger development of the protagonists and their relationships, so that it maintains the moe elements while giving more space to plot and characters.

Exactly as in the original season it's possible that you are worried about the length of the episodes, but again you shouldn't: if the pace is somewhat slower than in the three minutes previously allowed (as one could reasonably expect), this also permits some more interesting dynamics among the 4 main characters which could not have been fully explained in those short episodes; on the other hand, if you're worried about them still being only half the length of a regular anime episode, it's very typical of slice of life shows to have episodes that are already basically divided into two or more sections, each with its own plot, therefore you have nothing to fear: this anime allows as much time to develop a situation as the average anime.

Now to the characters: these are basically the ones you would find in any "cute girls doing cute things" anime, and if you have seen the first season you will not find any surprise; some secondary ones are introduced when needed and a fifth girl will appear around the end (as shown on the poster), but the 4 girls you have already been accustomed to will remain the undisputed centre of all the action. As I already said several times their dynamics become more complex: in fact it should be recognized that, using at its best the elasticity of their characterization, several times the girls depart from their basic traits to allow more intense, dramatic or emotional moments that make Yama no Susume more than a stereotypical cute comedy. The art accounts for the theme of the anime and does a good job (though not outstanding) both in drawing kawaii girls and beautiful landscapes as it is supposed to do.

In the end, if you liked the first season you should definitely watch the second; I also sincerely hope there will be a third one, as suggested by the late appearance of Honoka and a couple of other hints: I believe there is potential for more stories, and I want to see more of these four adorable friends.

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Yama no Susume is a fun lighthearted slice of life. Yama no Susume is about four girls and their adventures climbing mountains, and just having fun.

After watching the first season which introduced Aoi, a girl who was initially very shy and was scared of climbing, until her very loud and energetic friend Hinata convinced her to start climbing. I was interested to see what they would do next along with their friends Kokona and Kaede in this season.

The character interactions between the four girls were fantastic. It was so much fun just watching them in their day to day life, whether they were shopping, or just having a sleepover. There interactions were very natural and funny too. Aoi’s and Hinata’s friendship was great to see as well. Even though they fought over small things they always remembered the importance of their friendship and helping each other. It was also really nice to see Kaede, the most experienced climber in the group give advice and encouragement to Aoi when she was struggling. These teach us an important lesson about the importance of friendship and being nice.

Aoi’s character development over time was shown really well. Aoi is scared of heights and is quite shy, yet she continually went outside her comfort zone with the encouragement of her friends, like climbing a steep mountain, or more simple things like going to a bath house for the first time. It was great seeing Aoi’s confidence grow over time, and this made her a far more relatable and likeable character.

Unfortunately there were some episodes which lacked any emotional depth or purpose. This made the episode feel a bit boring and dull. Sometimes the girls would face no challenging situations during an episode. For example in one episode the girls would have a sleepover and talk, but none of them would be put in a difficult situation which I think made some episodes feel a little meaningless.

The animation quality is pretty good. Especially the outdoor scenery and mountains, which look like paintings, the characters and indoor settings are reasonably detailed and smooth.

Yama no Susume is very fun to watch. The interactions between the four girls is very relatable, and humourous, whether they’re just doing their homework, or climbing a mountain. Yama no Susume doesn’t have as much emotional depth as some other anime like Your Lie in April. If you want to watch something lighthearted and fun, I would definitely recommend Yama no Susume. It might encourage you to climb the mountains in your life.

Constructive feedback for this review is appreciated :)

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"It looks terrifying at first, but it's not so bad if you take it a step at a time."

The show continues the "mountain climbing for noobs" theme of season 1, this time showing what obstacles and challenges new climbers might face through Aoi's experiences. Because not every climb goes according to plan (and can even go terribly wrong), it's important to see Aoi become discouraged and yet take up the walking stick again.

The episodes in season 2 are still shorts, but this time around they're 15 minutes rather than 3 to 5 minutes-- one season 2 episode has the story content of roughly 3 or 4 episodes of season 1. In season 2, the show felt more cohesive because the story wasn't abbreviated by credits. The non-credit visuals and storytelling haven't changed much over season 1 aside from the size of each episode, so I'll focus on the music.

The season premiere opened with a clip show of season 1 set to an abridged version of the new opening credits theme. This didn't stick in my head very well, as the music and visuals didn't mesh very well-- the music has a certain rhythm and feel to it, whereas the selected clips were originally produced with very different goals.

Then episode 2 rolled along, and... WHOA. The opening credits became a proper music video, almost like a Shaft production, like one of the Monogatari productions, but with music from K-On. It's this form of "Natsuiro Present" where Tom-H@ck's composition really comes alive, masterfully blending flat surfaces with familiar props like an MP3 player or smartphone apps in a colorful tour de force. Highly creative, very "busy" and yet, much more fun and inviting than overpowering. To a slightly lesser extent, the animation accompanying the second ending theme (reprised from season 1) is a terrific complement to the music.

I wasn't as keen on the first ending theme-- I love Yui Ogura's voice, and this song isn't bad, but her song in The Hentai Prince was a lot better if saccharine-sweet. OP2, "Mainichi Koharu-biyori", didn't grab me as strongly as OP1, and I suspect it was because while all 4 main cast members are prominently animated, only Aoi's and Hinata's voice actresses are singing. Singing isn't their strong point, even though they both have worked very hard on their voice training to this point. I'm not saying it's a bad song (Tom-H@ck wrote the tune, after all), it's just that OP1 sounds much fuller because Yoko Hikasa and Yui Ogura round out the high and low notes. I will say that introducing flower symbolism (even though just about every "cute girl" anime does it these days) is a great touch and needs to be reinforced elsewhere in the show, like the icons did for Hidamari Sketch.

ED2... It's all right. Since Tom-H@ck didn't write it, it's got a bit of a different feel, so it's another take on the "mountain hiking" theme.

I'm hoping that Nao Toyama is later included with the main 4 characters, but that's up to the manga artist.

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